rillettes de tours bio

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

What’s better than a rich French paté? An even richer pot of rillettes

Call it paté at your peril. Rillettes is a delicious delicacy of good, slow-cooked pork, shredded and preserved in its own fat. Some of it is even EU-protected

T he first item on my shopping list whenever I’m in the Loire valley is a pot of rillettes . Always plural in French, it’s usually found at the charcuterie counter, next to the paté. But take care not to commit the ultimate faux-pas.

“No, no, it’s not paté,” says local butcher Emmanuel Ligneul, sounding offended. “It’s the best chunks of pork, shoulder and leg, cut into small pieces and cooked in their own fat in a large vat. You can’t use cheap cuts, and the meat isn’t minced or processed, just pulled and pressed.”

Rillettes, a delicacy in the central Loire region, is traditionally made in an area between Le Mans, the city known for its 24-hour car race, and Tours, 90km to the south. It’s sold in small tubs or in slices by weight, and the basic recipe is straightforward: meat cooked slowly for up to 10 hours until the fibre softens and breaks up. But there are local variations. Some charcutiers add herbs, such as thyme or marjoram, local wine or cognac. Rillettes made in the Tours area is darker, the meat in strips rather than diced, and contains a little more fat than that made around Le Mans.

Rillettes has literary credentials, too. Novelist Honoré de Balzac mentions them in his 1835 novel Le Lys dans la Vallée, a set text in all French schools.

Today, rillettes production is big business. In 2013, producers of Rillettes de Tours secured EU protected geographical indication status for their product. Producers further north have been trying to obtain the same protection for Rillettes du Mans for 20 years. The Paris-based Institut National d’Origine agreed to back their case in Brussels a couple of years ago. An answer is eagerly awaited.

• Food and drink
• The foodie traveller
• France holidays
• Europe holidays
• French food and drink

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

Rillettes de Tours: A Culinary Journey Through French Tradition

Introduction to Rillettes de Tours:

Nestled in the heart of the Loire Valley, Rillettes de Tours is a savory delicacy that embodies the rich culinary heritage of France. This traditional dish, originating from the city of Tours, is a testament to the artistry and craftsmanship of French charcuterie. Join us on a gastronomic adventure as we explore the history, preparation, and appreciation of Rillettes de Tours.

The History of Rillettes de Tours:

Rillettes de Tours boasts a rich and illustrious culinary heritage that traces its origins back to the 15th century. The elaborate tradition of crafting rillettes emerged as a practical solution for meat preservation. Predominantly focusing on the utilization of pork. This gastronomic delicacy was meticulously prepared through the slow-cooking of seasoned meat in its rendered fat, a meticulous process that rendered the meat exquisitely tender and effortlessly spreadable. The ingenious preservation technique not only extended the longevity of the meat but also provided connoisseurs with a delectable option to savor throughout the year, offering a respite during the winter months when the availability of fresh meat was significantly limited. Such meticulous preparation and preservation methods encapsulate the essence of historical culinary ingenuity that continues to captivate modern palates with its timeless appeal.

Rillettes de Tours Recipe:

Ingredients:.

– 1 kg pork belly, skin removed – 500g pork shoulder – 2 cloves of garlic, crushed – 1 onion, chopped – 2 bay leaves – 1 sprig of thyme – 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves – Salt and pepper to taste – 250 ml water – Pork fat or lard (enough to cover the meat)

Instructions:

1. Cut the pork belly and shoulder into small cubes and place them in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. 2. Add the crushed garlic, chopped onion, bay leaves, thyme, ground cloves, salt, and pepper to the pot. 3. Pour in enough water to cover the meat and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. 4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for about 3-4 hours, or until the meat is very tender and easily falls apart. 5. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool slightly. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprig. 6. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a large bowl and shred it using two forks. 7. Once shredded, pack the meat tightly into a terrine or ceramic dish. 8. Pour the cooking fat or lard over the top of the meat to cover it completely. 9. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours to allow the flavors to develop. 10. Serve the rillettes cold, spread on slices of crusty bread or toast.

**Note:** Rillettes de Tours can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Make sure to cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap or a lid to prevent the meat from drying out.

The preparation of rillettes de tours:.

To create the traditional French dish known as Rillettes de Tours, a meticulous process is followed. The preparation commences with the seasoning of pork belly and shoulder with a precise combination of salt, pepper, and aromatic spices like thyme, bay leaves, and cloves. Subsequently, the seasoned meat has to follow the slow cooking method in which it simmers in its own rendered fat until achieving a state of tenderness that allows for effortless shredding. Following the cooking process, the meat is meticulously shredded into fine pieces and meticulously combined with a portion of the cooking fat to achieve a velvety, paste-like consistency ideal for spreading.

Serving Rillettes de Tours:

Rillettes de Tours, a traditional French delicacy originating from the Tours region, is commonly enjoyed as an exquisite appetizer or hors d’oeuvre, especially in elegant dining settings or during sophisticated gatherings. This delectable dish consists of finely shredded or minced pork, seasoned with various herbs and spices, and slow-cooked in its own fat until it reaches a lusciously rich and creamy texture. To present it, you need to elegantly spread atop slices of freshly baked crusty bread or delicately toasted baguette, offering a delightful contrast between the velvety smoothness of the rillettes and the satisfying crunch of the bread.

symphony of flavors:

The inherent savory notes of the rillettes harmonize effortlessly with the crispness of the bread, culminating in a symphony of flavors that tantalize the taste buds. To further enhance this culinary experience, you need to serve rillettes de Tours alongside an accompaniment of tangy cornichons, small pickles that provide a refreshing and acidic contrast to the richness of the pork, as well as a dollop of zesty mustard, adding a hint of piquancy that beautifully complements the overall palate. The combination of tender rillettes, crunchy bread, zesty cornichons, and robust mustard yields a gastronomic sensation that is both satisfying and memorable, making it a beloved classic in French cuisine.

Appreciating Rillettes de Tours:

Rillettes de Tours is celebrated for its exceptional versatility, offering a myriad of culinary possibilities. Although traditionally crafted using pork, the tantalizing nature of rillettes transcends these boundaries, embracing a diverse array of meats such as succulent duck, tender rabbit, and even delicate fish. This adaptability empowers chefs to embark on a journey of exploration, delving into a realm where flavor is paramount and innovation reigns supreme. By incorporating alternative meats, these culinary artists can engineer a symphony of tastes and textures, producing avant-garde interpretations that breathe new life into this timeless gastronomic masterpiece.

Conclusion:

Rillettes de Tours embodies much more than a mere dish. It serves as a veneration of the esteemed French culinary tradition and unmatched expertise that defines the gastronomic culture of the nation. With a history steeped in tradition, the meticulous preparation process of Rillettes de Tours requires time-honored techniques and a dedication to culinary excellence that is second to none. The resulting flavor profile of this decadent spread is nothing short of exquisite, offering a sensory experience that is both luxurious and refined. Whether savored as a sophisticated appetizer or featured as a star component on a charcuterie board, Rillettes de Tours promises to enchant the palate with its harmonious blend of flavors and textures, all while evoking the unmistakable charm and allure of the picturesque streets of Tours.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Rillettes from Tours

The typical Centre Rillette is a delicate pork product originated from the town of Tours. Produced with traditional techniques and with pork meat exclusively, the Tours rillettes de porc are now a serious rival to the well-known pork rillettes from Le Mans. The food from the Centre of France has indeed become a benchmark when it comes to gourmet French products.

The traditional Tours rillettes - according to the Centre inhabitants - "get right to the heart of what's good"! Satisfying all lovers of pork products and French charcuterie , this moist tasty terrine originated in the 15th century in the Centre region accounts now for the delicious convivial sharers and starters of the French gastronomy. Rillettes lovers will be delighted.

The taste of this rough country paté is quite mild, especially when served at room temperature, spread on crisp slices of French bread with gherkins. Outstanding!

The pork speciality from Tours is in fact the main rival of the rillettes de porc du Mans , the difference only lies on the ingredients: porkbutchers from Le Mans like adding goose meat when Tours producers keep the authentic all-pork version . By the way, Tours rillettes are leaner than the others, in which small chunks of fat are sometimes left.

The traditional Tours recette de Rillettes is actually simple. Made exclusively from pork meat (belly and fat, without liver), it relies on an accurate seasoning including garlic, shallots, fresh thyme, bay leaves, sea salt, black pepper and typical French five spice powder.

The meat is slowly cooked in such casing until it falls apart, then shredded, blended with melted pork fat and finally left to set.

In the Loire Valley area, rillettes are commonly associated with the "Rillons" , another flavourful pork product cooked in the same way.

Those rillons (" rillots ", " grillons " or " rillauds ") can be served as a an appetizer with bread as well, but it is more common to enjoy those small pork cubes hot with mashed potatoes and mustard sauce.

Those two specialities of the former Touraine province have their own " rillettes and rillons Brotherhood" that has been promoting and protecting their authenticity since 1977.

You will find the Tours rillettes by every butcher of the Centre region - and certainly in the finest ones throughout France. Loire Valley's inhabitants are crazy about this pork terrine, generally sold in little pots or terrines . Some freshly made rillettes can also be delivered by pound, as thick chunks cut from a larger terrine.

Next: Centre Andouillettes au Vouvray Sausage

Back: Return to Centre Gastronomy Page

Return to Centre Gastronomy Page

Return to Centre Home Page

Rillettes de Tours

By james macguire.

French Recipes

Meat Recipes

The notion that charcutiers use rillettes to rescue the bits of meat that stubbornly cling to pork bones was dispelled for me years ago when I saw the chef Charles Barrier, at his restaurant in Tours, put half a pig into an enormous pot and set it on the stove to simmer. Barrier had learned the process at age thirteen from a charcutier whose nickname fo…

This post is for paid subscribers

Rillettes de Tours

Rillettes (nicknamed ‘pig jam’) is one of those foods that elevates peasant sustenance to greatness. The best version is apparently from Tours, where the pork is cooked to near caramelised status.

Rillettes requires a cut of meat so inedible, that half of it is fat, and all of it is too tough for a quick fry. These are the cheapest cuts, and those that the common peasantry could afford when they could even stretch to meat at all. Rillettes are traditionally made with pork shoulder with additional ‘hard fat;’ from the back of the pig; or they can be made with laterally sliced belly. Bones are needed for flavour, so if you are using belly, don’t let your butcher whip the bones off – keep them and take them off yourself for the pot. You can also use the skin off the belly, but you really need to fish that out before potting your rillettes.

The term ‘ rillettes ‘ is directly derived from the French term ‘ rille ,’ which indicates strips of pork.

Ingredients

• 1kg pork belly, carefully butchered into fat, bones and meat.
• 12 black peppercorns and 4 cloves tied in a muslin bag

Instructions

Layer the pork in a saucepan with fat first, bones second and lean meat last. Sprinkle the salt, stuff in the bag of spices, and fill with water to just cover the meat.

Bring the pan up to a simmer, cover, and leave on low for 4 hours.

Fish out the bones and the spice bag. Turn up the heat and reduce until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Shred any big bits of meat with a pair of forks. Pour into ramekins and chill.

Serve at room temperature on toast.

About Nigel Eastmond

Nigel is a marketing consultant who has learned to cook later in life. He is obsessed with finding the 'right way' to do everything.

You Might Also Like

Veal sweetbread and morel terrine

Asparagi River Café

No Comments

Leave a reply cancel reply.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

©2023 The Nosey Chef. All Rights Reserved.

Designed, developed, written and photographed by The Nosey Chef team

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Fare of the Country; RILLETTES: THE PRIDE OF FRANCE'S TOURAINE

CAROL KRAMER is a writer and editor who lives in New York. BY CAROL KRAMER

R illettes de Tours is the fancy name for a simple potted-pork spread that is the culinary pride of Touraine. You won't find it on the menu of a three-star French restaurant, nor will you see it listed next to the kiwi mousse at one of those austere bastions of the nouvelle cuisine. But sneak into the kitchens of such establishments and you may very well discover the chefs relishing rillettes they brought in for their own snacking.

Rillettes are a country cousin of the more sophisticated galantines, terrines and pates that have become mainstays of Continental cuisine on both sides of the Atlantic. In the Loire region, every storefront charcuterie -the local pork butcher shop - seems to boast its own version of rillettes, which is noteworthy considering that actual recipe differences are more subtle than a French existentialist argument.

To make rillettes, you take an inexpensive cut of pork - usually the neck - and some pork fat (caul fat if you are a purist) and cut it all into small chunks that are stewed slowly in an oven for five or six hours. Caul fat is a lacy fat that comes from the lining of the pig's stomach and is considered a superior kind of fat for pates and sausages. Leaf fat -from the kidneys - is also good for rillettes.

The meat is then shredded into a rough, brownish-gray mixture similar to pate but with a crucial difference: You must be able to distinguish the shreds of meat. Cheating by using a food processor will produce a glutinous mess unacceptable to any true Frenchman.

Rillettes date back to at least the 15th century, said Anne Willan, founder of La Varenne Cooking School, in her recently published ''French Regional Cooking.'' The art of charcuterie itself probably dates back even further - to Roman times. The Gauls, it is said, celebrated victories in battle with roast pig. In the Middle Ages the charcutier (literally, flesh cooker) specialized in prepared pork dishes; charcutiers did not get government authority to sell fresh pork until 1476.

Today, French housewives and many restaurants depend on their local charcuteries for pates, terrines, sausages and other delicacies usually served as hors d'oeuvres. But a recent drive through the Loire Valley served as a reminder that Touraine's pride in its savory namesake is pervasive. On every third street corner, it seemed, stood bigger-than-life pink signboard pigs that the local charcutiers use to advertise ''Rillettes, Rillons, Andouillettes'' (potted pork, preserved chunks of pork and small pork sausages).

Rillettes de Tours is an acceptable dish any time of day. Rillettes taste like the essence of roast pork, a pungent concentrate with a texture somewhat like a coarse pate. Many Frenchmen breakfast on rillettes spread on baguettes and accompanied by cold white wine. So great is the demand, indeed, that in Azay-le-Rideau, a tiny (pop. 2,749) village between Tours and Chinon, there seemed to be several charcuteries on each block. The owner of one such establishment, J. P. Esclasse at 22 Rue Nationale, told us that he sells at least 50 kilograms of rillettes every two weeks - which means that his shop alone is making more than a pound of rillettes a year for every inhabitant in town.

Mr. Esclasse, a plump, 31-year-old with a huge grin and a snowy white smock, has been a charcutier for 15 years; he has bought the shop where he first apprenticed. His recipe for rillettes - including a hint of bay leaf, cloves and thyme - was similar to those found in cookbooks such as Elizabeth David's ''French Provincial Cooking,'' Jacques Pepin's ''A French Chef Cooks At Home'' and the previously mentioned ''French Regional Cooking'' - with one small but vital difference. Mr. Esclasse insists on adding a little vin du pays to the mix. ''C'est tres important,'' he was telling us as an elderly woman customer entered the store. ''Ah, oui,'' she nodded appreciatively. ''Le vin du pays, c'est tres important.''

In this case, the wine was an Azay-le-Rideau, graded a ''good but not exceptional'' white by Alexis Lichine's ''New Encyclopedia of Wine and Spirits'' but it does the trick, apparently. In 1978 Mr. Esclasse won a prize in the rillettes competition at nearby Luynes.

Of course, Mr. Esclasse, like other charcutiers, offers fancier dishes as well - including persillade Tourangelle (parslied ham in the Touraine style), terrine de saumon, pate de lapin, terrine de legumes and terrine de canard a l'Armagnac.

Tourists seeking inexpensive, pleasant and filling lunch ideas might consider sampling rillettes and other charcuterie at roadside picnics. Most charcuteries sell rillettes in plastic cups with caps, but Mr. Esclasse and some others also offer special earthenware crocks that make fine souvenirs or gifts once the contents have been gobbled up.

Some local restaurants also take pride in their rillettes. Just look for one of the non-tourist, family-style places in Touraine, such as La Petite Marmite in Tours itself. Just across the Loire River from the town center, La Petite Marmite is next door to the elegant Restaurant Barrier (rated two stars by Michelin and three toques by Gault-Millau). Mr. Barrier's son runs La Petite Marmite and his specialty is ''simple regional cuisine.'' Portions are huge, the service polite and the atmosphere comfortably bourgeois: a homey pine-paneled dining room with pink-and-white-checked tablecloths, faded floral carpeting and decorative plates on the wall. Specialties of the region Five-Course Meals La Petite Marmite may serve one of the cheapest, high-quality, fivecourse meals in France. For 76 francs (about $13), my husband enjoyed rillons de maison, quenelles de brochet, gibelotte de lapin aux petits oignons, a cheese course and a classic creme caramel. For $7.50, I had the rillettes de Tours (milder than the best of Azay-le-Rideau), cote de porc aux pruneaux and a lemon tarte. Variations on a Classic In Azay-le-Rideau, rillettes were selling at 9 1/2 francs for 230 grams (about $1.50 for a half pound of rillettes), which is what the plastic containers hold. Although the classic rillettes de Tours are made with pork, it is possible to sample variations made with goose, rabbit or duck. In Vendome, north of Tours, rillettes of ham is a specialty. If you can't wait until your next trip to France, you may want to sample rillettes in New York. Cafe 58, at 232 East 58th Street, serves fine rillettes as part of a complete lunch ($8.50) or dinner ($9.95) with such provincial specialties as grilled pig's foot or blood sausage for entrees.C.K.

A Guide to Better Nutrition

A viral TikTok trend touts “Oatzempic,” a half cup of rolled oats with a cup of water and the juice of half a lime, as a weight-loss hack. We asked the experts if there’s anything to it .

How much salt is too much? Should I cut back? We asked experts these and other questions about sodium .

Patients were told for years that cutting calories would ease the symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome. But research suggests dieting may not help at all .

We asked a nutrition expert how she keeps up healthy habits without stressing about food. Here are seven tips  she shared for maintaining that balance.

There are many people who want to lose a few pounds for whom weight loss drugs are not the right choice. Is old-fashioned dieting a good option ?

Read these books to shift into a healthier way of thinking about food .

For a better experience on Delia Online website, enable JavaScript in your browser.

• New Year's Eve
• Chinese New Year
• Mother’s Day
• Sunday Roast
• Bread Recipes
• Barbecue and Outdoor
• What should you be cooking this month?
• American, Mexican and Caribbean
• Low in fat, high in flavour
• Chicken for Two
• Quick and Easy
• Hot Puddings
• Little Cakes
• Lunch and Snacks
• Delia's Happy Christmas
• Delia's Complete How to Cook
• Delia's Summer Collection
• Delia's Frugal Food
• The Delia Collection: Chicken
• Delia's Cakes
• How to cook
• Ingredients Glossary
• Cookery School
• Bakeware and Equipment range

• Ask Lindsey

• Login + Sign up

Lucy's Tarte Tatin

Gratin of Mussels in Garlic Butter

Rillettes de tours.

This is famous around the Loire district of France and sold everywhere in charcuteries – sometimes in thick chunks from a large terrine or packed into little pots.

I would recommend this for anyone who doesn’t like liver pâtés.

The Delia Online Cookery School: Make sure your spices are at their best, watch our video showing how to buy and store spices, just click the recipe image to play.

This recipe is from The Delia Collection: Pork . Serves 6 as a first course or light lunch

• , Picnic Recipes
• , Easy Entertaining
• , Canapes & Nibbles
• , Buffet food
• , Lunch and Snacks
• , Pork recipes

Ingredients

With your sharpest knife, cut the pork lengthwise into long strips about 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, then cut each strip again into smaller strips so you end up with pieces that are approximately ½ x ¾ inch (1 x 2 cm), and place these in a bowl.

Cut the fat into small pieces too, and mix these in (the excess fat will help to keep the pork properly moist during the cooking process). Now add the thyme, mace, salt and garlic, along with the peppercorns and juniper berries (the last 2 both crushed in a pestle and mortar or with the back of a tablespoon), and mix everything together. Transfer the whole lot to the terrine or loaf tin and pour in the wine. Mix everything around to distribute the flavours, cover the terrine or loaf tin with foil and place it in the centre of the oven and leave it there for 4 hours.

After that, taste a piece of pork and add more salt (and pepper), if necessary. Now empty everything into a large sieve standing over a bowl and let all the fat drip through (press the meat gently to extract the fat). Leave the drained fat to cool and then transfer to the fridge for 20-30 minutes so that the jelly and fat separate. Next, take a couple of forks and pull the strips of meat into shreds (sometimes it is pounded instead, but personally, I think it’s worth persevering with the fork method). Then pack the rillettes lightly into the terrine or loaf tin (wash and dry it thoroughly first), and leave to get cold.

After that, remove the jelly from the bowl of fat, melt it gently and pour it over the rillettes. Then spread a layer of fat over the top to keep the meat moist. Keep the rillettes in the fridge (covered with foil or clingfilm) till needed; it will take about 2 hours to set. Serve with hot toast, crusty bread or crisp baked croutons.

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1, 275°F (140°C).

Using a fan-assisted oven? Click here

You are here

You may also like.

Rillettes of Duck with Confit of Cranberries

Coarse Country Pate

Duck Liver Pâté with Armagnac

Terrine of Turkey

More french recipes.

Mussels with Garlic

Cep and Onion Tarts

Hot Chocolate and Rum Souffle

How to Make an Omelette

Information centre.

• Scaling up cake recipes
• Conversion tables
• Freezing advice
• Food allergies

Cookery school videos

Sausage Rolls

Featured recipes.

A Luxuriant Vegetable Pie

All-in-One Baked Vegetables

Apple and Raisin Parcels

Have you seen....

• See Make Your Tea Time Fabulous with Our Cath Kidston Competition competition

Win 1 of 3 Cath Kidston Tea Sets

Old-fashioned rice pudding, chicken basque.

Follow us Like us on Facebook Follow us on twitter Follow us on instagram Follow us on pinterest Follow us on youtube

• Advertise with us
• Terms of use
• Privacy & Cookies

© 2001-2024 All Rights Reserved Delia Online

Web Design Surrey

Local products

Rillettes - Potted porc meat from Tours

Where to buy it ?

Recipe ideas

Legend has it that the owner of an inn, eager to satisfy the appetite of her guest—the writer Rabelais— invented pork rillettes when she creatively used the only things left in her pantry. The pork butchers of the Tours region adopted the recipe in the 19th Century, making it their own, and worthy of the name Rillettes de Tours. Rabelais eventually dubbed them “la brune confiture de cochon”, or “brown jam of pork” and another illustrious French writer, Balzac, praised the delicious rillettes in his writings. What sets Tours’ rillettes apart from other regions’ is their caramel colour, long fibres of shredded meat and their rich roasted flavour. The pork butchers of the Tours region has held the designation Indication Geographique Protégée since 2013.

STYLE, FLAIR & JOIE DE VIVRE!

French Property News Column: Rillettes de Tours

My September column for French Property News

Rillettes de Tours One of the best ways to ring in the weekend is with a trip to the local butcher for the makings of a rustic planche de charcuterie for our Friday evening apéro . I’ll pick up things like wrinkly saucissons flavoured with herbs and spices, delicate slices of cured hams, thick slabs of pâtés and small tubs of creamy rillettes. Though I usually end up bringing home a little of everything (it’s hard for me to choose favourites), I am especially partial to rillettes, a shredded meat spread which originated in the Touraine region of the Loire Valley.  The word ‘rillette’ is derived from the Old French word ‘rille’, meaning ‘thin strips of pork’ and first found in a document dating to 1480. ‘Rille’ was also used by Humanist author and Touraine native François Rabelais to refer to a “brown pork jam” (“ brune confiture de cochon ”) in his novel Tiers Livre (1546). Three centuries later, Honoré de Balzac wrote about “ les célèbres rillettes ” from Tours which were “prized by gourmets, but rarely appeared on aristocratic tables” ( Le Lys dans la Vallée , 1836). It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that the peasant recipe tickled the taste buds of Parisian connoisseurs and became the delicacy we know today. 

Read the full column, published in the September 2021 issue of  French Property News  here: rillettes

Image: Tours Val de Loire Tourisme

You Might Also Like

Rillettes De Tours

Ingredients:.

(*) French seasoning mix consisting of 5 parts black peppercorns, 2 parts grated nutmeg, 1 part cloves, 1 part dried ginger.

Dice the meat as well as the bacon, put it in a saucepan with the spices, add 200 ml of water and meanwhile simmer gently for 4 hours, stirring from time to time, especially during the last hour. The meat will have turned a golden brown color and broken down into its fibers.

Cool, fill into pots, cover with lard and seal with parchment paper. These rillettes, kept in a cool place, will keep for several months.

If you wish, you can also mash them with a fork or grind them after cooking.

Serve as an entrée with farmhouse bread.

Our tip: Use bacon with a fine, smoky note!

Related Recipes:

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

• French Sauces
• Dips & Spreads
• Pork Recipes

Classic French Pork Rillettes

The Spruce Eats / Eric Kleinberg

Be warned, classic French pork rillettes are not a pâté, as you will find to your peril should you ever use the term in France. Rillettes are long, slow-cooked meats, usually cooked in their own fat, and a few herbs and seasoning. What is created by the long slow cooking is akin to pulled pork with a softer flavor. They are, quite simply, delicious. 

Spread rillettes on toasted baguette, sprinkle lightly with freshly cracked black pepper and salt for a quick, easy appetizer. For a bold flavor or gourmet appetizer spread the toasts with fig jam; the sweet jam and pork work so well together. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds lean pork , cut into 1-inch cubes

3/4 pound pork fatback

1/2 pound duck legs , kept whole

3/4 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped  fresh thyme

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly  ground black pepper

1 dried bay leaf

Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a large ovenproof baking dish, mix all the ingredients.

Tightly cover the dish with foil or a well-fitting lid. 

Cook in the center of the oven for 3 hours, until the meat is falling apart. It is imperative to keep checking the dish to make sure the meat is not drying out as it cooks; add more water if needed. Once cooked, remove the dish from the heat, leave the foil or lid in place and allow the meat to cool in the dish for 30 to 45 minutes until it is warm.

Remove the lid and discard the bay leaf and duck bones and any little pieces of meat which may have dried too far.

Shred and stir the meat and fat with a large fork until it resembles a chunky, creamy spread, if correctly cooked this will be very easy to do.

Place the rillettes in a beautiful serving pot and level with the back of a spoon.

Pour any remaining fat in the cooking dish over the surface to help keep the rillettes moist. 

Chill for at least 24 hours before serving.

• The rillettes will keep for several days untouched.
• Once you have started eating, use within 72 hours.
• Classic pork rillettes from the French city of Tours are now protected under EU law's PDO status and as such must be made with pork to a particular recipe. 

Recipe Tags:

• valentine's day

• Homepage Featured Articles

At the table: Rillettes de Tours

What are the best wines to drink with the Loire Valley speciality?

By Joanna Simon

The reputation of rillettes de Tours goes back a long way. Rabelais , who was born in the town of Chinon to the southwest of Tours, referred to rillettes in his satirical Le Tiers Livre of 1546 as brune confiture de cochon , which translates neatly, if not very appetizingly, as “brown pig jam .” Nearly 300 years later, the “brune confiture” of Tours was acclaimed by Balzac in his novel Le Lys dans la Vallée , and Proust refers to the reputation of rillettes de Tours in À la Recherche du Temps Perdu (1913).

Even Astérix almost got in on the act. Goscinny initially included rillettes de Tours in Le Tour de Gaule d’Astérix (1963), in which Astérix and Obelix collect regional culinary specialities for a banquet, but the episode was cut before publication to shorten the book.

The Loire Valley is not alone in having a long history of rillettes —meat slowly cooked in fat from the same animal, shredded then preserved in the fat and packed into pots and served spread thickly on bread. Southwest France is rightly proud of its rillettes d’oie (goose) and de canard (duck)—but none of the other rillettes has the distinction of the Tours product—not even the neighboring rillettes du Mans .

The word rillettes (always used in the plural) originated around Tours and is said to derive from the Old French rille , which dates from the end of the 15th century and referred a thin strips of pork, although it was not until the mid-1800s that rillettes appeared in the universal dictionary.

Tasmania unlocked

Bordeaux 2023 Field notes: House of cards

Bordeaux 2023 Field notes: Château La Tour Figeac—La Chartreuse de St-Emilion

Most rillettes are named according to their meat, poultry or, increasingly nowadays, fish type. Rillettes de Tours , although always made from pork, takes the name of its place of origin and production instead. The same applies to rillettes du Mans , from the Sarthe department, northwest of Tours, but there’s a crucial difference in status between the two: the Tours product is designated IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée); Le Mans rillettes are not, although the Rillettes Sarthoises Confrérie are hoping it will come.

In fact, rillettes de Tours are the only rillettes with IGP status—awarded in 2013 more than 20 years after the Confrérie began its application. IGP means they must be produced by artisans and salaisonniers (meat curers) in the officially delimited area—20 cantons in and on the borders of the Indre-et-Loire department—and there are production rules to be followed.

The pieces of meat and fat are 100% pork from so-called “noble” cuts (mainly leg and shoulder, but also filet, loin and sometimes belly) and the meat is first browned in the fat on a high heat and then cooked slowly for between 5 hours 30 minutes and 12 hours. A final short period of cooking at high heat gives the the rillettes a characteristic darker color and distinctive slightly browned, caramelised taste. The meat is shredded, or pulled, but also includes some larger pieces of pork. Seasoning is limited to salt without nitrite, pepper and, at the end, a local Chenin Blanc wine such as Vouvray or Chenin eau de vie.

Content from our partners

Wine Pairings with gooseberry fool

Wine pairings with chicken bhuna 

Wine pairings with coffee and walnut cake 

Today, there are about 250 artisan producers. In contrast, the production of rillettes du Mans is more industrialized.

What to drink with rillettes de Tours

In the region, rillettes de Tours are traditionally served with a dry or semi-dry Loire Chenin, such as Vouvray or Montlouis, or with local Cabernet Franc reds such as Chinon, Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil or Bourgueil. While Chenin cuts through the richness of the rillettes , I find the richness diminishes young Chenins, making them taste thinner and reedier. Venerable old dry wines from ripe vintages, with their the complexity, honeyed depth and continued freshness are a different matter. I very much enjoyed a 1989 Domaine des Aubuisières Vouvray Sec recently.

For me, red wines work better: fresh, light to medium-bodied reds that have relatively low tannin and little or no oak, among them Loire Cabernet Francs, especially Saumurs such as Domaine Filliatreau Saumur-Champigny 2020. Here is a wine that retains its quintessential Loire freshness and Cabernet Franc fruit, while clearly having soaked up the sun and warmth of the vintage.

Other French reds that pair well in a similar way but with added minerality (if I may use that word) are Beaujolais Crus and Marcillac. To give just a few examples: Moulin-à-Vent or Chénas from Domaine du Granit, Morgon Côte du Puy from Domaine Jean-Marc Burgaud, and Domaine du Cros Lo Sang del Pais Marcillac. It is no coincidence that these are the sorts of red wines that go readily with fish.

Outside France, I would head for Italian reds such as young Tuscan Sangioveses and Cerasuolo di Vittoria (another red that is often successful with fish) and Austrian Zweigelt. For the latter, I mean the “ballet dancers” rather than the “body builders” that Sarah Marsh talks of in her recent article .

Joanna Simon

World of fine wine weekly newsletter.

Where to eat local?

The best traditional places in tours, recommended by food professionals.

Maison Colbert

Chez gaster.

Le Petit Patrimoine

L'Hédoniste

What to eat in tours, originally from tours.

Rillettes de Tours

Brossauthym

Poires tapées

Advertisement

Anne Willan

Rillettes de Tours

By Anne Willan

Published 1981

• Svg Vector Icons : http://www.onlinewebfonts.com/icon Recipes

Different cities have different versions of this dish. In Tours they are made of pure pork; half of the lean pork in this recipe is replaced with an equal quantity of goose to make ‘rillettes du Mans’, or with an equal quantity of rabbit for ‘rillettes d’Orléans’. Serve rillettes at room temperature as a spread for fresh bread or toast; gherkin pickles and black olives are the traditional accompaniments.

Ingredients

• Mediterranean
• Gluten-free

• Poissonnerie

• Charcuterie
• Charcuterie cuite

Le Père Champain, Charcutier Traiteur

Rillettes de tours i.g.p.

Bocal WECK de 200 ou 420gr

• En savoir plus
• Informations nutritionnelles
• Composition

Le Père Champain, charcutier traditionnel à Montlouis-sur-Loire

" Rillettes de Tours à partir de jambon et de carré de Porc avec une cuisson lente à découvert en marmite. On n’a rien inventé, on suite la recette... "

En bouche on ressent les morceaux généreux de viandes qui caractérise la Rillettes de Tours. Comme nous le dit Hervé Louis du Père Champain, on ressent alors l'utilisation de parties nobles du Porc "Roi Rose" de Touraine. Un véritable trésor gourmand en bouche !

Pour la petite histoire, la fabrication se fait à partir de morceaux de jambon et le carré filet en morceaux de 6cm. Ces morceaux sont rissolés dans la graisse de porc. Ils sont cuits, comme le veut la tradition, à découvert dans une marmite aussi large que haute. Les morceaux ne sont pas hachés, car dans la Rillette de Tours, l' I.G.P impose d'avoir des morceaux.

Notre charcutier nous a dit que ces Rillettes étaient une source naturelle d'oméga 3 : 14g d'oméga 3 pour 100g, décidément, elles ont tout de bon !        

Le petit conseil de Marceline est de placer les Rillettes du Père Champain au réfrigérateur la veille de la dégustation. Fraîches, le goût et la texture ne seront que meilleurs. Pour les avoir goûtées, Marceline préconise de les servir en apéritif ou en entrée. Les choses simples sont les meilleures, un bon pain de campagne et quelques cornichons ferons l'affaire. Ah non, elle oublie le petit verre de Chinon qui va bien avec ! 

Elles se conservent à température ambiante dans leur pot hermétique WECK. Une fois ouvert, le pot doit absolument être conservé au réfrigérateur pendant 3 à 4 jours maximum. 

Connaissez-vous le sujet sensible entre les Tourangeaux et les Manceaux ? Leurs rillettes... Elles sont deux incontournables des deux régions. La différence entre les rillettes de Tours et celles du Mans tient à la cuisson, mais surtout au choix des morceaux. En outre, seules les rillettes de Tours bénéficient de la labellisation IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) et ce, depuis 2013 !

Le saviez-vous? Tours est désormais capitale labellisée "Cité internationale de la Gastronomie", une terre épicurienne par excellence. C'est grâce à des artisans comme notre charcutier du Père Champain que la région de La Touraine, et notamment Tours, a su garder la tradition du bien-manger promue par Rabelais, en perpétuant la fabrication de ses spécialités traditionnelles.

Informations nutritionnelles pour 100g du produit consommable

Le Père Champain est un charcutier passionné implantée en Touraine à Montlouis-sur-Loire. Cette entreprise familiale fabrique des produits traditionnels de salaison et de charcuteries !

Pâté de Tête de Touraine

Rillettes de Canard au Magret Fumé

Rillettes de Jambon à l'Ail des Ours

Rillettes de Lapin

Je m'inscris

My email address :

My password :

Traditional Rillettes with Vouvray Wine

Hardouin SA

Traditional rillettes from Tours ! A traditional and generous recipe which makes the fame of a region, which will become an indispensable part of your cupboards.

Delivery from tuesday 30 april | Details

See more offers

Rillettes de Tours PGI are characterised by the use of noble cuts of meat, such as ham and loin, in their production. The result is a rillettes texture that is both frayed and chunky.

To be enjoyed on a good slice of farmhouse bread, in good company, and why not with a local wine ...

The artisanal quality

La Maison Hardouin uses a large cast iron pot to cook the rillettes slowly and uncovered, browning with the bones. This is stirred for several hours (min. 6 hours) to allow the moisture to evaporate and give the rillettes a nice golden colour.

A touch of Vouvray is added at the end of cooking and gives the rillettes a pleasant aroma.

A PGI for rillettes

In the Middle Ages, rillettes from Tours were mainly used as a means of preserving meat. It is from the 19th century that the craftsmen butchers took over the recipe and made it a dish in its own right.

Rillettes de Tours obtained the IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) designation in 2013, as a sign of recognition and quality. Maison Hardouin produces its rillettes in compliance with the specifications of this PGI and thus guarantees the origin and quality of the product.

The Maison Hardouin

It is in Vouvray, near Tours, that the Hardouin house has been located for more than a century. The spirit of this traditional charcuterie is preserved today and allows it to offer high quality products made according to traditional methods.

Maison Hardouin, traditional excellence

Maison Hardouin was founded in Vouvray, near Tours, in 1936. André Hardouin, a talented young charcutier at the time, took advantage of the boom in tourism and the recognition of the Vouvray Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, to offer authentic, high-quality charcuteries that would take their place on the best tables in France.

In the 70s, the company was taken over by André's sons, who developed modern, practical techniques while preserving the methods and secrets of their products. This traditional know-how has been passed on ever since, and is reflected in the high quality of Hardouin charcuterie.

See the section :

Composition

Pork and pork fat Roi Rose de Touraine (origin France), wine : Vouvray (1%), salt, Armagnac, colouring : caramel E150a 125g of meat are used to make 100g of finished product.

Nutritional value

Loire Valley

With this product, we recommend :

Customers who bought this product also bought :

Reviews about : Traditional Rillettes with Vouvray Wine

There is no reviews about the product yet Traditional Rillettes with Vouvray Wine Be the first to leave a review

Leave a review

Please describe your experience with this product : taste, texture, how you used it and maybe your favorite recipe or advice.

You must login or register to leave your opinion.